A Few Finishes

 I haven't been extremely motivated in the sewing and hooking department. Once gardening season starts all else goes on the back burner.

These are quilts for donation to Snuggled in Hope. It's a summer camp for sick kids. 

Sunburst pattern with pinks in it for a girly quilt.

The backing is a sheet with a French theme.

This is sunburst for a boy. No pink, tried not to use flowery prints.

Isn't this frog print adorable?

The backing for this was a polka dotted sheet 

This last one I call a 64 patch. Each block has 64

1" squares. I used a different color solid for each block.

The backing is.... Another sheet. This is the first time my quilter has allowed me to use sheets. I can only use 100% cotton per her request. I mostly can find some flat sheets at the thrift store. This saves me a ton on money. 

I've begun gardening. The candy onions, broccoli, strawberries and potatoes have been planted. The broccoli is a request from Mac, my 6 year old grandson. 

I also have started prettifying the back yard along the fence. All that wood/fence is boring to look at. I'll include photos when I get more planted. 

Stay warm, stay safe. 

Sue 

Two Hearts

 I finished hooking my two hearts rug. I steamed it and I zigzagged the edges. I told myself "I'll finish it later". I went to put it where unfinished rugs are, and there were two other rugs waiting there, plus the purse, and a pillow top. Oh my. So I decided I will work on it some more. 

I trimmed the excess linen and turned/rolled it forward. I usually hand sew it to secure it, but I was already in my sewing room so I thought I'd try to machine stitch it. And it worked out just swell. Using the zipper foot I was able to get very close and it took very little time.

My decision now is how to finish it. Whip it with wool yarn or bind with wool strips. I chose the yarn, for two reasons. One, I didn't have enough of the specific brown I wanted to use and two, I have numerous baskets of wool yarn that needs to be used. 

For years I finished my rugs whipping with wool yarn.  Then Lauren showed me how she finished with wool strips and binds similar to finishing a quilt. I like that method, a lot. So that's the method I usually use.

So whipping it is. I haven't whipped in years. I chose two different shades of brown and am whipping with two strands.  It's just a little wonky, I'm hoping some of that wonkiness will steam out. 

Tonight is a quilt guild meeting. I haven't attended in months. After babysitting all day I find I have very little energy for anything else. Tonight I feel like going. I think the warmer weather and longer days improves my energy level. It may be April but we're expecting 1-3" of snow in the next couple days. Boo!!! I'm so ready for nice weather. 

Granddaughter Lexi is on a school band trip to Disney. She sent me these photos. 

Age 4

And now, at 15. 

Love it. 

Have a great weekend. Monday is the eclipse. I'm so excited.   Sue 

I'm Seeing Red

 

I'm seeing red.... In my rug. It's exactly what was needed. I'll probably finish hooking it later this week. I'm almost done, just the brown heart to fill in, and the little open places in the red shapes. The background turned out a bit lighter than I'd prefer. I've been making hooked rugs for 24 years. Wowzer, that's a long time. And a lot of rugs. 

I knew I wanted hooked rugs in my home. But I was a single mom and couldn't afford to just buy them. So I learned to hook them. My first classes were in the basement of Shirley Bloom. Gloria Ault was also there. Shirley liked to teach "fine" hooking. I started out hooking with a 6 cut. Shirley would pick out these bright colors, I'd look up and Glo would be shaking her head "no".  When Shirley would walk away Gloria would help me pick out more primitive colors. 

This is my first rug. It's a pattern by DiFranza called Garden Cat. It's hooked with a 6 and very low loop height. This was before the Internet so I never saw another version of the rug until much later. It's not my favorite, but my first, so I've hung onto it. 

I finished binding the Sun Burst Girl. That makes three ready to go to camp.  Summer camp. I'm getting impatient for nice weather to arrive, and stay. I've a few flowers blooming in my garden. But my hands are itching to get busy digging and planting and dividing perennials. I had a 6' foot fence installed around part of the backyard last year. Its great for keeping Daisy enclosed. She's my little runner. I did see an area where she has tried to dig a hole under the fence. That Daisy. She's sweet, but she's a handful. She  makes Henry look like the absolute dream dog. Henry is calm and well behaved. 

Anyways, the fence is big and boring. My plan for this year is to spruce up the back yard. I salvaged some limestone stones. I plan on making a curved walk way to the shed, then plant some trees and lots of flowers. Lots. My neighbor boy wants to help. He's developmentally delayed with ADHD. He's my friend. Years ago he started coming to the house because he loves Henry. And Henry loves him. Daisy dislikes him intensely. She will not even allow him to pet her. That Daisy. Again. 

A Rug of Two Hearts

This was my inspiration. I just really like the simplicity of the pattern. 

Then Lauren of Rugs and Pugs blog sent me this picture from a rug showing at her local guild. I fell even more in love with this pattern. 

Oh yeah, love it. Love those primitive colors and wonky shapes. When I drew my pattern out I made the diamond shapes near perfect. But I really like the irregularity of the ones in the above picture. 

So here's where I'm at .  

So far I've been able to use up my worms, except for that blue. And I'm not sure that blue will get to stay. I'm just not sure I like it. I still have a few brown worms and neutral worms. The browns won't be enough to fill the heart, but the neutrals looks like enough to finish the background. I'm not sure how I'll fill the remaining diamond shapes. After posting my inspiration pictures I kinda like that red heart. 

I think that's why I've stalled out on the hooking. I am not like Saundra, I do not have a second project going when I stall out on the first one. But I do have an idea for my next rug. 

I've also been quilting. I put the binding on the two green quilts and I'm working on the binding for the Sun Burst girl version. It's girly because its got some bright pinks in it. On the back I used a white and pink Parisian print. These are all for donation. I have two more that are quilted and just need binding, a boy version of Sun Burst and a multicolored 64 patch. I've got one more top pieced,  it's a purple version of the June pattern.  This one still needs a backing and to be quilted.

My sweet, sweet Henry. 

I've also been working at cleaning my sewing room. The trouble with that is I keep finding unfinished projects and go down that rabbit hole. There's so many patterns I want to make. There's so much fabric I need to use up. There's so many rugs to be hooked. 

I also attended this year's final regional Academic Challenge tournament. This is Lexi's second year to be on the team. They placed third. She is so intelligent. I'm so proud of her. She's already taking college classes. 

And that's all for this week. Have a safe and jolly weekend. Sue

Two Hearts

 

This is my Rug of Two Hearts. I was able to get this far just using up worms, or some call them noodles. It's used up a good amount of browns and neutrals. That blue is the same blue I used in the 1868 rug. I tried a darker greyish blue but it looked blah. I plan to work some blues into the border so that the blue heart isn't the only use of that color.

I like how the border is turning out. I like scrappy quilts and scrappy rugs. 

I've been working on this rug a little bit every day. My grandson was home sick with me last Thursday. He ended up with a temperature of 107' that evening. Turns out he has influenza A. I got sick on Saturday. The cough has been horrendous. I don't feel like doing much.  A little hooking, a little sewing, lots of resting, lots of watching TV, little bit of housework. That's my plan for again today. 

It is only 7 weeks until the total solar eclipse. I live in an area that will experience a total eclipse. I am so excited. I sure hope we have decent weather that day. 

Be well my friends, Sue 

SAHRR

 SAHRR means Stay at Home Round Robin.

A round robin quilt is usually done as a group. You make your middle block and then over a period of months it is passed to other members who add another border (round) to your quilt. Each passing of the quilt goes to another member. The original person does not get to see the progress. 

I was reading a blog ( quiltinggail.com ) that said she was participating in this stay at home round robin. It has become a yearly thing started during Covid. It has grown so that there are weekly drawings for prizes if you complete your round in a timely manner. I am already behind. By the time I saw it they were on round 2.  And that was a couple of weeks ago. Each week they give a suggestion on what technique or square to use. 

So I thought, what should my starting block be?? A star? A churn dash? So many options. I like big quilts so I thought, well I need a big starting block. Hmmm. I had gotten a bunch of blocks from another blogger ( citymousequilter.blogspot.com ). She said she just didn't like how it was turning out so she was getting rid of them for postage only. I said, Me, pick me. And she did. 

She had attempted to sew them together, but when it didn't work out, she took the blocks apart causing some damage to some of the blocks. I made many repairs. And then they sat. 

So I decided to use them as my starting point. There are 66 of these blocks. She said the pattern was either farmer's wife or civil war pattern. I used 16 of my favorite  ones together with some brown sashing. Looks great. I think it looks great. I love using reproduction fabrics. 

The SAHRR suggested a signature block for the first round. Hmm, no. So I made quarter square triangles. Again, very cute. But... And a big but. The starting block is 1/2" too big. That's a lot in the quilting world. I took in some of the seams. Okay, now I'm ready.

 I made 44 QST's. And then I thought it was too varied in colors. So I kept the red in each block and  varied the alternating colors to be cheddar, brown, and tan. I'll get this round done next week. I like to sew during the week when I'm babysitting. I can go in my sewing room and sew, then close the door when nap time is over.

I like to hook on the weekends. I make such a mess, worms all over, wool here, hook there. I clean up when Monday rolls around. Here's the progress I've made on my Rug of Two Hearts. 

That's it for today. Yay, it's Friday. Sue

What I Got This Week

 I got two quilts back from the longarm quilter. They are both scrappy green. I was still using up all those greens from the Emerald City quilt I made last fall. 

A simple modified Rail Fence

Simple patches using a really pretty dragonfly print

These are both for donation to "Snuggled in Hope". It's a charity donation here in Ohio. It used to be only for a kids summer camp for those with a chronic condition, heart disease, kidney etc. Now they get so many donations they have branched out to other organizations that serve children. 

The other thing I got this week. COVID. It started on Wednesday with lots of gastrointestinal issues. I'm lots better today, but will continue to quarantine. 

Have a great weekend. Enjoy this weather while it lasts. It's 62' right now. In February. In Ohio.